Wooden glasses: My eyes' dream come true

A combination of brilliance and distaste for most glasses gave me an idea: Glasses made out of wood! So I googled it and it turns out that they exist!

Besides being seductively earthy, wooden glasses are said to be less harmful to the environment than conventional glasses, as they are made from a renewable resource. Some companies that offer wooden glasses are also more environmentally conscious in other ways (i.e. some plant trees).

On the other hand, many companies that sell wooden glasses are expensive and difficult to buy from. I have included a variety of wooden glasses companies in this list, including some that are affordable and easy to find.

Herrlicht of Germany has 8 styles of wooden frames. I called 10/10 Optics, a NYC store that sells these, and they said that the Herrlicht frames start at $600

Urban Spectacles of Chicago custom makes exclusively wooden frames, starting at $850

Proof of Idaho offers wooden frames, starting under $100. They are even sold in Massachusetts!

W-Eye of Italy offers 10 styles of wooden frames with nickel-free aluminum on the inside to make the frames flexible. I'm not sure if they are sold in any English-speaking countries.

M.A.D.E. of Denmark makes wooden frames that include metal details.

Sire's Crown of California makes wood frames with wood pulp fronts. They plant 20-100 trees for every pair of glasses they sell. The frames pictured above are $300.

ROLF Spectacles offers wooden and bamboo glasses frames, which are made completely out of natural material and with no metal parts.

ICU Eyewear of California offers a few frames with bamboo temples (search "bamboo" on their homepage). The above pair is only $52. They're actually reading glasses, but I assume that you can have prescription lenses put in them.

Amy Sacks offers the "Bamboo Masa" frame with a plastic (cellulose acetate) front and bamboo temples for $125.

Here is an article with more information about wooden glasses frames.


Other places to buy wooden glasses:

Kayu Design (under $200, but only sell sunglasses)
Barbara Creations, Inc.
Yii
Waiting for the Sun
Schwood (affordable and relatively easy to find, but only sell sunglasses)


Coming up next: A post on recycled & secondhand glasses.

Do glasses create less waste than contacts?

After mending my glasses with masking tape, I figured why not cover the whole frame in tape. But that got boring so I didn't finish. And it turns out the tape "hinge" is weaker than the real hinge, so the left side sags. So I've decided to buy new glasses.

I have only worn glasses in public a handful of times. When I found out that I had bad vision at the age of 10, I began wearing contacts.

Contact lense solution, contact lense boxes, contact lense packages, contact lense cases (not pictured: actual contact lenses, cardboard box that solution comes in)

Recently I became worried about all of the waste involved with wearing contacts. So I began waiting two months instead of one month before switching to a new pair of contacts. And I put clean contact solution into my contact case once every few days instead of daily. But this is probably very unhealthy, so I want to try something else.

Which brings me to glasses!

Do glasses really create less waste than contacts?

Some numbers:

A year's supply of contacts (12 pairs of monthlies, with 12 contact cases and 12 bottles of cleaning solution):
549 grams of plastic

A pair of glasses lenses (not including frames):
35 grams of plastic


(statistics from this article)

Well, I probably use about 1 contact case and 5 bottles of contact solution each year (much less than the 12 cases and 12 bottles factored into the statistic above).

On the other hand, everyone I know who wears contacts also owns a pair of glasses (for use late at night, etc.). But the people I know who predominantly wear contacts usually buy a new pair of glasses every 5 or 10 years. I bought my current glasses around 8 years ago.

How often do glasses-wearers buy a new pair of glasses? I'm hoping to replace my glasses no more than once every 5 years.

I'm estimating that buying a pair of glasses every 5+ years is less wasteful than wearing monthly contact lenses.

Also, there are glasses available that are made out of recycled and renewable materials.

I will soon post about the best places to look for glasses made out of recycled materials, and glasses made out of wood!

Escaping Advertisements

[This post is part of Bridgewater State University's Blogfest for Social Media Week. Today's theme: technology]

I just found this awesome add-on for Firefox that replaces internet ads with art! It's called Add-Art and it's free.

I just downloaded it, and this is how it looks:

The picture of the kids is where the ad would have been--poetry websites have the worst ads. They often have sound, but it seems that Add-Art eliminates the sound, too.

So far, most of the art consists of surprisingly un-arty photos, because the current installation, See Space, was created by children ages 6-15 at an after school program. But it's still fun, and the collection changes periodically.

(From adbusters.org)

(From adbusters.org)

The average United Statesian sees thousands of advertisements each day. In Europe, there is a ban on advertisements that 'exhort children to purchase or to ask their parents or others to make inquiries or purchases' and in Sweden all advertisements aimed at children under 12 are banned.

In 2007, Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, banned all outdoor advertisements, including pamphlets, in an attempt to reduce "visual pollution."

Sao Paulo before and after the advertising ban

Once the billboards were all taken down, there was a lot of waste, which Brazilian designers TOUCH and StraaT made tote bags out of.

Some ideas on how to combat advertisements:

1. Try a Buy Nothing Day, and maybe even invite others to do it with you. It might be harder than you'd expect.

2. Avoid buying from big companies:
       For clothes, try thrift shops
       For food, try farm stands and small grocery stores (especially ones that offer local food)
       For gifts, make something by hand
       For hygiene products, make them yourself (from items bought at small grocery stores)
       For gas... bike? Take the train? When you do need gas, it's probably better to buy from an independently-owned gas station, like Easton Gas

3. Download Add-Art so at least you won't have to look at ads when you're on the computer.


Any other ideas?

Secondhand stuff: What's good about it, where to get it

When I decided to downsize my possessions about a year ago, I got rid of lots of things that could probably be useful. I had acquired most of these potentially useful items for free, picking them up with the intention to be made into something, used in my nowhere-in-sight future apartment, or given to someone who could use them. But after becoming frustratingly bogged down by my excessive possessions, I decided that I would probably be able to find these things for free again when their purpose arose, and if I had to do without them for a time, I could probably manage.

Free stuff is really easy to come by. I see free furniture in fine condition on the side of the road daily. It makes buying these things new seem a little unreasonable. Of course, when you go to a firsthand store, you have a better selection and you might have to do less work (lifting, finding a truck to use, potentially refinishing), but is it really worth it? It is understandable to put effort into having a clean, safe, comfortable living space, but style might be worth compromising for the advantage of both the environment (there are already more than enough couches/tables/lamps/TVs/beds/dishes/etc. out there already, why use resources to make more?) and your bank account. Plus, visually challenging items can spark creativity to make them work with your taste.

 

Alternatives to buying new:

1. Freecycle

     -Grassroots nonprofit dedicated to reusing and keeping good stuff out of landfills

     -Sign up (for free) with your local Freecycle branch to get and give free stuff

2. Craigslist (free and otherwise)

     -You can use Craigslist without even having to sign up

     -On the Craigslist home page, click "free" under the "for sale" category

     -Also a good place to find out about yard sales--click "garage sale" under the "for sale" category

3. Yard sales

     -Yard sales are good for recycling, building community, and spending time outside

     -If you go to yard sales near the end, lots of times people just want to get rid of everything so they'll give stuff to you for free or cheap

4. Thrift stores

     -Good for recycling and getting bargains, but not free stuff, and not usually as cheap as yard sales

     -Good for finding fabric. Sheets usually cost a couple of dollars and provide a lot of fabric

     -Often money goes to charity or church

5. Consignment stores

     -Good for recycling and getting bargains, but not usually as cheap as thrift stores

     -Some consignment stores are very designer brand oriented, so they're not as cheap

6. Swaps

     -Some organizations (colleges, churches, etc.) organize swaps, especially clothing swaps

     -If you can't find one, organize one! Even if it's just a few friends.

    

7. The side of the street

     -Good for finding free stuff!

Some of my recent free finds:

A side table found on the streets of Quincy, which I think I'll paint; a picnic basket found on the streets of Easton

A large vase found on the streets of Easton; a candle holder found with the vase

Pillows found on the streets of Stoughton; a ton of curtain rods found next to the metal/furniture dumpster at Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy. I have also found book ends, paper organizer things, futons, office chairs, comfy chairs, and lots of other things next to/in that dumpster.


I also get all of the beads I use in my jewelry for free, mostly at the ends of yard sales. Don't spend money on stuff!